The Forums, which have functioned in one way or another since 1996, have now been closed to new posting. However there is a wealth of accumulated wisdom that can be searched for and utilized, so we've archived the messages.
Join our new forum on Facebook, the Eat Right 4 Your Type Group.

I am sure that there are plenty of older threads on this but I am unable to pull them up. I am in the middle of cherry season and am moving into plum season. I would like to know if there is a healthy way to do the freezing and canning? Thank you.

I am sure that there are plenty of older threads on this but I am unable to pull them up. I am in the middle of cherry season and am moving into plum season. I would like to know if there is a healthy way to do the freezing and canning? Thank you.

When we can fruits, we use as low sugar syrup as possible to still maintain color and texture and not add loads of sugar... You could also make some juice from the fruit and use some juice for the syrup... I haven't done this, so don't have specific recommendations.

I live in a country where we cant get a lot of variety - veggies and fruits are very much a seasonal thing:I freeze following :Strawberries,raspberries, blueberries, sour cherries ( dark sour kind), currants and blackcurrats.I freeze all theese washed and dried with no added sugar. Often I loose freeze so I can take the ammount I need for smoothies or desserts.Spread the fruit on a baking spread and quick freeze- after 1 hour or so I put them in freezeing bags,

I freeze some abricots and a lot of plums as well.I don┤t use sugar here either- put pit them and freeze them in half.

I only can pears - the rest I don┤t really bother with.When I make jams etc I just use some of the frozen fruit- but I rweally don┤t use that much jam anymore

If I had a drier I would make some dry fruits from apples, pears and plums etc.

When my mother canned she used the Ball Blue Book as a guide. Ball publishes a new edition every year; you should be able to find it wherever canning supplies are sold, or do a google search online with the phrase 'ball blue book'. Your local library should have a copy too.

Sugar is used in canning mainly to preserve the color and texture of the fruit. I've substituted 100% fruit juice concentrate or grape juice concentrate for the sugar with good results. I just used some cans of frozen juice concentrate, making sure they were all fruit juice.

I did some canning this weekend for the first time in my life alone. When I was a child, I helped my mother with her canning (peeling, sterilizing), but I was never in charge of the pressure cooker.

Last year I decided to buy a pressure cooker because it is so I could be in charge of my ingredients. I wanted to can relish to sometimes season a can of tuna. I bought a few jars and lids from Wal-Mart. Last month when I was at Wal-Mart, they had pickling salt, so I bought some because they don't carry it all year.

I had no plans to do canning this weekend but when I was at the Farmer's Market last Saturday, one of the vendors had a big bundle of fresh dill for $1 - they generally don't have fresh dill. So I bought it to can zucchini dill pickles. One vendor was selling giant zucchini for 50 cents. I will be canning zucchini dill pickles in the morning. Yesterday I canned Zucchini Pickles using a recipe in "Heinz Successful Pickling Guide." Today I canned Sweet Pepper Relish also from "Heinz Successful Pickling Guide." I used a variety of peppers mostly from the Farmer's Market.

I used the Heinz book, the book that came with my pressure cooker, and a book I must have picked up at a garage sale. I needed all 3 books and still wasn't sure about what I was doing, but I think all but one jar sealed. I may have been able to freeze them, but I wanted to can them.